Laura Wells: Well, to me, it's a question of priorities. One of the things that I think we don't talk about enough when we're making decisions, whether it's at the city level, state, or country, is that the basic job of the human species is actually to take care of the next generation. And how that applies when we're talking about spending a million dollars for a plan for a possible stadium is that this past year, in Oakland, five schools were closed, including a school in my neighborhood that's been around for more than 80 years, but there were five schools closed in order to save money. To me that's a very messed up priority.

KPFA: Would you feel differently about this if the Oakland Raiders were a real home team, owned by the City of Oakland, rather than by a corporation?

Laura Wells: Well yeah, like the Green Bay Packers, it's been almost a hundred years, and they're owned by the community, and so they benefit the community, and the community supports them wholeheartedly. They're not moving anywhere, they're bought and sold. The community owns that, whereas we're left here negotiating with the owners of the team, which is not the community, but the Raiders' owners, and we're in the position where our council members, the people who are making the decisions, are getting campaign contributions from the developers of sports stadiums as well as other developers.

KPFA/David Landau: And that is the Oakland Green Party's Laura Wells, candidate for California State Controller, on the Oakland/Alameda County Joint Powers Authority's decision to spend a million dollars studying proposals for a Coliseum City development including a new stadium for the Oakland Raiders.